


A Secret to Share

by ptw30



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Confessions, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Keith's history, Post Season 3, Royalty, Shiro's history, how Shiro and Keith met
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-05
Updated: 2017-08-05
Packaged: 2018-12-11 11:10:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11713188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ptw30/pseuds/ptw30
Summary: Shiro kept a secret from Keith - but it just might save his life.





	A Secret to Share

**Author's Note:**

> My soul still aches from Season 3, so I needed to write something to make the pain go away. It didn't - but I feel slightly better. Hope this help you a bit, too, my fellow Shiro-lovers!

Keith sat down in the Black Lion’s pilot seat, closing his eyes and letting out a deep sigh. The team was coming along, but he wanted –  _needed_  – Shiro back. And Red had located Keith before. Why hadn’t Black gone after Shiro – wherever he was.

Keith curled his hands about the Black Lion’s controls and murmured, “Help me.  _Please_. Tell me how to find him.”

The Black Lion growled to life, but when Keith opened his eyes, he no longer sat in the pilot’s seat but stood to the right of it, where he always stood when near Shiro. Shiro sat in Black’s chair, and for a moment, Keith’s breath caught in his chest. Shiro was  _here_? Shiro was back? But when he lurched forward, his hand swiped right through Shiro’s shoulder, like how the Black Lion phased through solid objects.

So Shiro wasn’t really there? Was this a memory?

Shiro looked terrible, hand covering his face, clenching fingers dipping into his white bangs. Before Keith could ask Black what was wrong, Shiro sat up. His head tipped back against the rest and showed Keith how upset his best friend was.

When he spoke, his broken voice rose no longer than a whisper. Tears shimmered on his eyelashes. “Black –  _please_. If something happens to me, you – you have to tell him for me. I – I can’t. He’ll – He’ll think – He won’t understand. He’ll hate me for keeping this from him, and he won’t understand why. He doesn’t know just how much he means to me, and – and I can’t lose him.” 

The lion snarled and grumbled. He was not happy and relayed his thoughts, that Keith wouldn’t hold it against Shiro. That he’d understand and accept Shiro, despite his personal transgressions.

But Shiro shook his head, tears slipping down his cheeks. “He’ll doubt everything, and he’s already lost so much. We both have. He’s – he’s my family, Black. My  _only_  family. I can’t lose him, too.”

Black snapped his head up, jerking Shiro in his seat in a playful reprimand. Keith wasn’t his only family, not anymore.

Shiro laughed and rubbed Black’s console. “Yes, thank you, Black. You’re right. we’re no longer alone, but – I can’t perform my duty if I die. And Keith’s going to need someone to guide him, to tell him who he truly is.”

Black whined. He’d do it – only because Shiro was a coward.

Shiro laughed again, and Keith reveled in the joyous sound. He missed it so much.

“I must be strong for the others, for Keith.” Shiro eventually sighed. “Let me have this, Black.”

Begrudgingly, Black granted his request.

All too soon, Keith found himself back in the pilot seat, fingers hanging loosely over the controls, but Keith closed his eyes again, reaching out through his bond with the lion. “Show me, Black.” Maybe he’d get to see Shiro again. “Show me what Shiro wanted you to.”

The gut-wrenching images flashed before his eyes, one after one, the story of his past finally coming to light. By the end, he gasped and slammed back against the chair, chest heaving as if he’d just broken the water’s surface. The tears came unwillingly but flowed as he tugged his legs onto the seat and curled inward.

Like Shiro had wanted, he reached out instinctively to Red and Black for comfort.

* * *

The Castle of Lions picked up a distress signal from the remains of the Galran home world, and Shiro debated not answering it.

“It has to be a trap,” he warned, and though Keith agreed, it didn’t sit well with him that Shiro didn’t want to check it out.

Allura, thankfully, agreed with him. “We cannot ignore anyone who seeks our assistance.”

What they hadn’t expected was to accept a foreign-looking ship into their hanger and to be greeted by familiar black and white armor.

The appearance of a second Shiro was like a punch to the gut, especially when Shiro tugged off his helmet and stopped, letting it drop to the floor with a loud clunk. Fresh tears glistened in his eyes.

“ _Keith_ …”

“…Shiro?”

Suddenly, Shiro –  _their_  Shiro – stepped in front of Keith, blocking him completely from the newcomer. “I said it was a trap. He’s trying to trick you!”

Though Keith couldn’t see, he heard the newcomer’s hand buzz to life. “Who –  _What_  are you?”

Keith immediately reached for his bayard as did the rest of the paladins, and it only took Lance leveling his sniper rifle for the newcomer to take a step back, hands raised. “Lance? What are you doing? It’s me!”

“Yeah, well, y’see, we kinda already have one of you.”

“Fire on him!” their Shiro ordered.

Lance gasped, eyes widening incredulously but never leaving the newcomer. “What!”

“Shiro!” Allura, this time.

But their Shiro activated his own hand. “He can’t be trusted. The Galra – they took my hand. They could have cloned me, too.”

“It’s…possible, I guess, but I’m not a clone.” The newcomer’s voice firmed, hands still leveled. “I – I was teleported by the Black Lion into another reality. I fought alongside other paladins and came back here, to  _my_ reality. At least, I…I think this is my reality…”

Suddenly, the newcomer looked so hurt, so crestfallen, like all his hopes rode on that one fact and the paladins had crushed them by showing him their Shiro.

But their Shiro never spoke about clones before and he jumped so quickly to demand Lance to shoot.

“Do it, Lance,” he continued. “What if he can steal the Black Lion from Keith? What if he can take control of Voltron? We can’t risk it!”

“Waitaminute,” Hunk tried to reason, but Shiro wouldn’t have it. “Lance!”

“Stop!” Keith yelled, hurrying about their Shiro to step between him and the newcomer. Again, his chest clenched. The newcomer’s face was familiar and kind, uncertain but firm, waiting for an outcome, not rushing to any demands. His hair, though longer than when Shiro left them, had the appropriate undercut and white bangs. He watched Keith with that gentle affection he’d always held for him, his surrogate little brother whom trusted him completely.

And when Keith looked at him, he felt safe and complete – not the way he felt with the Shiro behind him.

The words flew from his mouth in a desperate plea. “Tell me how we met.”

The newcomer’s eyes rounded and trembled, became pained and horrified. He quickly looked away, shame coloring his expression and darkening his features, but their Shiro stole Keith’s attention before he could demand more.

“We met at your outpost not far from the garrison’s base,” he spoke, a fond but forced tone overtaking his voice. “You were frightened, scared when we met. You’d been alone for so long, you didn’t know how to react.”

Keith accepted his answer with a rigid nod and then turned back to the newcomer, who lowered his arms and stepped forward, tears now coursing his cheeks. He stopped when Lance fired a single shot, hitting the floor next to his boot, and then he closed his eyes, hands forming trembling fists.

“ _Keith…I’m sorry_.”

There was so much Keith wanted to say, heart bleeding but unimaginable relief flooding him. He needed to hear the truth from Shiro himself. “ _Tell me_.”

Shiro swallowed but refused to meet his gaze. “I – I met you on the day of your birth…” and he collapsed, one knee upon the hanger’s floor, fist against his chest, “… _your highness_.”

Hunk turned to Pidge, muttering, “Did…you hear what I just heard?”

Allura blinked. “Your…highness?”

Lance pulled the trigger the moment “their” Shiro took a step toward Keith, glowing hand raised for a death blow. The clone slammed hard to the floor, blood splattering all the way to the real Shiro’s boots.

But Shiro waited, never moving, barely breathing, and from the Black Lion and Shiro’s memories, Keith knew to walk over and place a hand upon Shiro’s shoulder, as per royal protocol.

Shiro immediately looked up, expression telling a story of misery and strife. “Your Highness, I – ”

“Shut up!” And suddenly, all the rage and insecurities and melancholy spilled over. “I don’t care that you lied to me. I don’t care that the rebels made you my protector and sent us to Earth. Damnit, Shiro! You were a kid, too!”

“It’s – It’s customary,” Shiro explained, pitiful of an excuse as it was, “for a ruler and his protector to be paired during their youth. It creates an unbreakable bond as well as – ”

“I said I don’t care!” Keith collapsed to his knees, too, staring into eyes so familiar and warm, he wondered how he hadn’t realized the other Shiro was a fake earlier. “I don’t care that you didn’t tell me who I am, even though you knew this whole time.” He lunged then, wrapping his arms about Shiro’s middle and pressing his face into his brother’s chest. “You’re here. That’s all that matters.”

And that was all that would ever matter.

"It's good to have you back," he muttered, and after a moment of shock, Shiro replied, arms curling about Keith’s shoulders and holding him close, "It's good to be back."

The others gave them a few moments to themselves when Keith just reveled in Shiro’s warmth, his steady breathing, his thundering heartbeat. Shiro was here. Shiro was finally home, and the nightmare that was reality ended.

Of course, it was Hunk who yelled, “Paladin Group Hug!”

Trapped between so many arms and legs, Keith barely managed to mutter, “You’re failing at your job.”

Shiro laughed, and it was the most precious sound in the world.  

**Author's Note:**

> Headcanon: Keith is Zarkon’s son by an Altean woman (Haggar didn’t remember they were married for ten thousand years, so…), and as per Altean protocol, royalty are raised alongside their personal guards to create unbreakable bonds and loyalty. ~~Why doesn’t Allura have a BFF guard? Idk…~~ And if Voltron is going the route of clones and alternate dimension, I can have this. :) Thanks!


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